


Golden Rhapsody

by EndorphinDolphin



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Content, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Car Accidents, Dealing With Trauma, Depression, Explicit Language, F/M, Family Drama, Romance, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:33:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24630091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndorphinDolphin/pseuds/EndorphinDolphin
Summary: Pelican Town is ablaze with rumours of the not-so-new newest resident of Longbourn Farm, someone who used to visit the town every summer a long long time ago.----Wanting a change from her burnt out existence and to defend her grandfather's farm from being sold by her money hungry relatives, Lily took a huge gamble leaving the glorious capital city and the comfortable life she had for a new start in the seemingly quiet small town by the sea.A peaceful and easy living awaits her, or so she thought. Her vain and naive ways will soon be challenged by the nature of her new life as a farmer and by the meeting of someone who had been through the worst life could offer.
Relationships: Shane/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Golden Rhapsody

Chapter 1 – A Golden Storm Brewing in Stardrop

Pelican Town is ablaze with rumours of the not-so-new newest resident of Longbourn Farm, someone who used to visit the town every summer a long time ago. The youngest granddaughter of the late Mr. Longbourn has come to town to reside in her newly inherited farm. The ownership of the farm had been in suspense for years now due to Mr. Longbourn’s will instructing it to only be revealed when the time has come. When exactly that is nobody really knew, including Mr. Longbourn’s lawyer who manages his will. After 5 years since his passing, the mystery is finally solved on one dreary afternoon when a tired and defeated Lily Masfield finally read her grandfather’s final letter to her. In his deathbed when he passed her the envelope, he has told her that the letter inside should only be read in dire times. And so that was exactly what she did, she held onto the envelop untouched for years, keeping it at the bottom of her drawer below piles of work papers, only to be unearthed in a moment of desperation when her spirits are at the breaking point.

Through that letter, and with the validation from her late grandfather’s lawyer, it is firmly decided that Lily Masfield is the sole heir to this piece of land along with the funds reserved for the farm. Everyone was shocked to find out the deed of the land would go to the youngest granddaughter instead of Mr. Longbourn’s sons or even grandsons. In truth, Lily had always been her grandfather’s favourite grandchild, for she was the most attentive and loving family member he ever had, with a quickness of wit to match his. She was the golden apple of his eyes. She was also the one who stayed by his side in his old age and took care of him at the hospital when he had fallen ill right after she graduated from university. Her grandfather’s fondness of her had unfortunately always becomes the source of envy for her cousins and relatives. They always have the worst assumption of her kindness towards him as being a fake ploy to gain his favour. And the fact that Lily's father is Gotoroan further exacerbates their dislike of her.

The surprise however comes from the fact that Lily is named as heir eventhough she had never seem interested in farm work nor the farming industry her entire life. Since young she had always expressed interest in joining the corporate world of big businesses. And Mr. Longbourn himself had always been proud of his farm, which he built painstakingly with his own blood and sweat since youth. For him to just give it away to said granddaughter, a city girl with neither real farming experience nor interest is quite an unexpected turn regardless of her being the favourite one. It is even more shocking when Lily herself strongly stated her intention in leaving her well off career in the city to work on the long neglected farm. Her resolution went against the family’s discussion on selling the farmland away to have the profit divided amongst them. Lily is determined to keep the land and work on it, never budging at any pressure to sell it to interested land prospectors.

\----

\----

It is night time when Lily Masfield had finally arrived, after travelling a long and odious journey from Tsuzu City to Southshore and finally to Pelican Town. According to the bus driver, Lily is lucky to have bought the ticket for the last long distance bus trip to Pelican Town; afterwards the bus company will discontinue the route due to the lack of demand. It is unsurprising news to Lily because of the remoteness of Pelican Town, which stand at the edge of the fertile belt right before the start of the looming desert. However as far as Lily remembers, the town also have a few short distance buses running through it, so it wouldn’t really be a big deal to not have the long distance bus available anymore. It was 8PM when the bus arrived at the small and dimly lit “bus stand”, if one would call a single bus stop sign with a single post light as a bus stand.

Lily was anxious. A quick glance from the window of the bus before she gets off on the other side doesn’t seem to indicate anyone within view. According to the mayor’s last text, she was supposed to be greeted by a lady called Robin at the bus stop.

“Are you gonna be okay out here on your own? With all these stuff you got?” the bus driver asks as he helps unloading Lily’s huge rucksack and a heavy box from the luggage storage compartment. “Yea, I think so. I’m supposed to be waiting for someone to pick me up,” she replies with ease as if she hasn’t a single worry, even though deep down inside her a sense of panic starts brewing. It is pitch black out there, the dirt road leading out of the bus stop doesn’t have a single light beyond them, and she couldn’t really remember the way to grandpa’s farm from here.

“Well okay then, you take care miss,” the bus driver says as he steps back in the bus and starts driving back to Southshore. Just as the bus is no longer blocking her view, she can see the flickering of a lamplight in the distance. The lady walking towards her seems to be someone in their 40s with bright orange hair. “Hi there, you must be Lily? I’m Robin, Mayor Lewis sent me to fetch you,” she says out loud, while Lily in her head admires the shade of Robin’s hair. “ _They look so deliciously orange, like strands of sweet tangerine juice._ ” “He did told you in a text, didn’t he?” she inquires as she got nearer. “Yea, he did texted me about it. Thanks for coming all the way out here just for me.”

“No problem,” Robin chuckles lightly, “it’s the least I can do to help our town’s newest addition to settle in.” Lily picks up her stuff and walks beside Robin, who is leading the way while describing the general layout of the town. When they arrive at the farmhouse, Mayor Lewis is waiting for them on the porch. He greets Lily and the three talks more about the farm, informing her of all the important things and making sure she knows what is where whom is who, before leaving her to settle in.

Her grandpa’s farmhouse had been the same as she had always remembered: small but cozy, consisting of only a single living area, a single bathroom and only have enough necessities for a person with a very minimalistic lifestyle. Lily immediately set to work and unpacks her stuff. She’s very thankful that Mayor Lewis had hired cleaning services earlier, and so the only thing Lily needs to do is to arrange things and make it more liveable for her. She notes that the house might be too simple for her and she really needs to add more things to the house. After a while of unpacking, she’s finally done and dives straight onto the bed triumphantly. “ _I should get myself cleaned up, but I’m too tired to warm the water for a bath and the shower only has cold running water. The night’s too cold for that shit, so hell nawh. How did grandpa live like this every day?_ ”

“ _Sigh, I miss you grandpa_ ,” Lily thought to herself as she looks around the room, memories of the past comes flooding in. When she was younger visiting her grandpa every summer, her family would actually stay at grandpa’s old house in Southshore. They all would make day trips to visit grandpa’s farm to enjoy the peaceful quaint scenery and by nighttime would drive back to Southshore. Sometimes when her parents are not in the mood to go all the way to Pelican Town, her grandpa would either visit them there or he would pick her up to spend time at the farm and then send her back. They stopped their yearly summer visits after the death of her mother in a road accident. It hurts them to visit without her presence and it hurts grandpa to see them returning without his daughter, a painful reminder that his daughter left the world before him. Eventually, in his old age, grandpa left the farm to live in a retirement home closer to the rest of his children and family in Tsuzu city. Lily visited him every weekend off school whenever she has time to do so, sometimes with her dad sometimes on her own. After she graduated from Tsuzu University, grandpa fell sick and was bedridden. At that time, while waiting for her internship at Joja Corp to start, Lily visited him almost daily and took care of him until his last breath. “ _I wish you’re still here to show me the ropes, grandpa. I don’t remember much of what you thought me back then. But I’ll still try my best to learn and rework the farm on my own. And not let those vultures sell this land_.”

“ _And to forget about the horrible things I left behind in Tsuzu…._ ” Lily trails off her thoughts as she nodded off to dreamland.

\----

The following day starts later than Lily intended it to be, her body was much more tired from the moving even after the prolonged rest she had taken. Combined with the lethargic feeling one gets when they’re not having a good sleep in a new place, and the soreness one would get like the day after a marathon… she’s definitely not going to finish off her list of things she planned to do today.

“ _I really need a shower, I should’ve showered last night before I sleep_ ,” Lily yawns as she strips off her clothes and walk over to the bathroom, turning the shower knob in stupor only to be rudely met with a freezing cold water streaming out the shower head. “ _FUCK! I forgot there’s no heater ugh, I gotta warm up some water by the fireplace first… wait but how do I get the hot water from the kettle to the showe… ugh no Lily you stupid, you need to use the bathtub for that_ ,” Lily grunts in her head as she turns back into the room to get the kettle and fill it at the sink. “ _I really need to ask Robin if she can install some modern plumbing… and also a proper a kitchen, I can’t cook every single time using the fireplace, that's going to drive me insane. Sigh, looks like I have to eat dinner at the saloon until I can get a kitchen with gas stoves and fridge_.”

It is already afternoon when Lily finally steps out of the house. She’s walking around the front yard while eating a cream bread roll she bought in Tsuzu and sipping on a warm mug of instant coffee, inspecting the view of the farm from where she stood. “ _Damn, the farm is in a bigger mess than I expected it to be. I really need to get a lot of cleaning up done on the land before I can start planting anything_ ,” she muses while finishing up her overdue breakfast. Picking up the tools she found in the house, she went to work on clearing the farm. Hours of hacking and slashing and cracking and tiling later, she finally have a sizeable clearing of land just enough for 2 plots of plants. It is far from what she thought she'd achieve, the work was much more strenuous and challenging for Lily to actually execute. Now it’s already dusk, and her stomach is grumbling extra loud for sustenance. _“Since today is a Friday, there must be a lot of the town’s people there. I should clean up and wear something nice to go to the saloon. It will be the first time people are going to see me, I really want to leave a good impression on them.”_

Changing into a set of red knee-length dress with gold accents that matches her straight shoulder length deep golden hair, a pair of black leather boots with medium heels, and dabbing on some gold highlights in her eyelids to make her rich amber eyes sparkle even more, Lily is satisfied with how stunning she looks in the mirror. _“If this doesn’t make them impressed, then I must be blind."_

\----

Nighttime in Pelican city is very quiet and peaceful, so quiet that you can hear the trees swaying softly and rustling in the wind. Lily pleasantly takes in her surrounding, enjoying her walk down the dirt road from the farm leading to the town. She pulls her coat closer to her body as she notes that the chillness of the night here are much colder than in the city. “ _Might as well get a drink with my meal to warm me up.”_ The absence of bright lights and skyscrapers helps bringing out the twinkle of stars in the sky and the hint of moonlight shining a soft glow on every surface it touches. Lily however still needs to use her phone’s flashlight to see in the dark while walking. “ _The lack of streetlights here is still quite surprising; I thought the town would have installed lights by now since the last time I was here years ago. I can’t just depend on my phone’s flashlight forever, it drains the battery too much. I need to ask someone to help me figure out how to use the lantern that grandpa had. I think it uses propane gas, but I’m not really sure…,_ ” Lily ponders as she walks across the town square towards the saloon, her heels clicking softly on the pavement.

“Hey there, never seen you around here before,” a voice is heard coming from a few feet away, “you must be the new farmer girl.” Lily stares at the person talking to her, a guy around her age or maybe even younger with a very peculiar hairstyle. “ _His hair looks exactly like Goku…_ ,” is the first thing that goes through Lily’s head as she continues staring at him. The super saiyan looking person misunderstood Lily’s silent stares and said “uh, didn’t mean to scare you, I was just curious and I know someone moved into the farm yesterday. My name’s Sam by the way, I was one of the people Mayor Lewis hired to clean up the farmhouse.” “OH, sorry you caught me spacing out there haha,” Lily lied, not wanting him to know she was staring at him due to his strangeness, “my name’s Lily. I guess you can say I am the new farmer. Thanks for the cleanup, you guys did a really great job.” Sam smiles and asks if she’s going to the saloon too, to which she says yes and they continue walking side by side.

Sam holds the door open for Lily, and with permission helps her with her coat. Hanging them at the coat hanger, he turns back towards her and is struck by what he is seeing in front of him. Just now when he was talking to her outside, Sam vaguely make out her beauty and attractiveness in the dimly lighted town square. Now bathing in the warm lights of the saloon, he can finally see her clearly and my oh my, how greatly does he appreciate his view right now. Inside her head, Lily took notice of his appreciative gaze for she inwardly smirks brimming with pride, but on the outside she feigns ignorance as if not knowing her effects on him. “Lily! You’re here!” a voice calls out to the right, which belongs to Robin. She’s seating at a table with someone who Lily presumes to be her husband based on the intimacy and the lack of gap in their sitting arrangement. Lily and Sam walk over to their table to greet them both.

“This is my husband Demetrius that I talked about last night,” Robin said to Lily. “You two ladies were gossiping about me? I hope Robin only said good things,” Demetrius said jokingly. “And I see you’ve met Sam,” he continued and gave the boy a familiar look but one with an underlying visage that Lily can’t seem to interpret the nature of. “Yes, he’s very friendly and he’s nice enough to walk with me into the saloon. I feel less awkward thanks to Sam,” Lily said smiling warmly at Sam to which he grins and sheepishly replied that it’s no big deal. “Are you here to play pool with Sebastian?” Robin asks in a much friendlier tone. “Yes Mrs. Layton,” he answers politely then he looks at Lily continuing with “they’re waiting for me at the games room on the other side of the saloon. You can join us if you want, having more people playing would be much more fun.” “Sure, that sounds awesome. Maybe I’ll join you guys later, after I’m done eating my dinner,” Lily replies. Lily turns to the married couple and expresses how nice it was meeting them here. Wanting to depart from the table and not impose on the Laytons any longer, both youngsters excused themselves and went their separate directions.

Lily, not knowing exactly where to sit at the bar randomly chose an empty seat nearest to her. It was the seat at the end on the longer side, facing the liquor shelves. As soon as she gets comfortable in her seat, a bubbly waitress with a glossy blue hair in a pixie cut comes over with a menu. “Hi, you must be the new farmer? The one moving in that abandoned farm near the road? I hope you like it here, I’m Emily,” the waitress says to her while smiling brightly. “Yea that’s me. My name’s Lily,” she replies sweetly and took a glance at the menu, “I don’t really know what to eat for dinner… what’s the specialty for today?”

“We’re having spicy eel for today’s specialty dish. The eels we use are freshly caught at the docks just this evening and immediately prepared by Gus. Would you like to order that?” Emily asked, getting her notepad & pencil ready to write. “Ooh, that sounds good. Can I ask for more hot pepper in that? I want it extra spicy.” “Definitely! You sure are an adventurous one, it suits your aura so much, I really like that,” Emily says as she jots down the order details. “ _Huh my aura?”_ Lily ponders, confused by what was just said about her. “Anything for drinks?” Emily interjects her thoughts. “Hmm give me.. One glass of plain water, one cranberry sparkling water and one beer please.” “Another fitting choices from the golden lady. I love the colour of your aura Lily. I’ll get your orders ready in a jiffy,” Emily says and off she went to the kitchen. “ _….. okay. I have an aura with a colour she loves it seems. I guess she meant like a having good vibe, I think?_ ”

\----

While Lily sits in silence wondering about the exchange she just had with the ever eccentric waitress, a certain brooding figure by the fireplace was looking at her sideways while nursing a half drank glass of beer in his hand. “ _Why does Emily gotta be so fucking loud and annoying at whoever the fuck that bitch is. I wish she would just shut up already about that crackpot bullshit aura of hers_ ,” Shane rants in his head, rubbing his temple with his right hand. His head has been pounding like crazy since the end of his extra shitty shift, wincing at each loud noise that’s happening around him. Loud noiser are unfortunately very frequent in the bar filled with rowdy jovial crowds.

“ _Fuck me this place is always so fucking loud on Fridays, why did I even come here today to drink_.” Shane gulps down the whole remaining beer in his glass in one swing, and brings it down the table with a clang that is only meant to catch Emily’s attention over the loud music and atmosphere. He closes his eyes and let the warmth of the drink travel across his body which soothes him temporarily. “ _Now where the fuck is that blue haired weirdo?”_ Shane wonders, his head still hung down resting in his hand. He’s starting to get annoyed, his feet anxiously tapping the floor impatiently waiting for his glass to be refilled so that his tongue, mouth and throat can be filled again with that frothy golden liquid goodness. Instead of Emily however, the clang of his glass catches the attention of the golden haired lady in red sitting on his left only a seat away from him.

She absentmindedly watches him after hearing the loud clang, just now noticing that there’s someone sitting to her right. He was sitting at the end of the L-shaped bar, between the liquor shelves and the fireplace which created a nook that seems to partially hid him from most of the patrons’ view, effectively giving him some privacy in this crowded small town saloon. “ _He’s jittering so much. I wonder what’s his deal_.” Her eyes lingers on him trying to make out his feature which is hidden due to his posture and the hand messaging his temple covering his face. Her eyes then travels to his jacket which looks much worn out with faded blue colour that looks very familiar, and then she caught a glimpse of that accursed ‘J’ logo. “ _Ah, that at least somewhat explains his gloomy and depressing dark aura._ ” “Dark a _ura? Damnit, Emily’s quirk is starting to rub off on me._ ”

As Lily’s pensive staring towards Shane continues while she’s thinking, he’s starting to notice the pair of rich amber eyes being fixed on him as if looking at his pitiful state. He turns slightly to look at her in annoyance, wanting her to get the hell away from him. And still her eyes are glazed on him as if she’s challenging him. His mood soured even more. “What the fuck are you looking at cupcake?” he asks viciously, his eyebrows furrowed with rage. That confrontation snaps Lily back into reality instantly, now finding herself deep in hot water. “ _God, I spaced out again, this time staring at the wrong kind of guy_ ,” she panics while still keeping a cool face. She even manages to arch her brows showing mild surprise. By now, a few other patrons near them, including Robin and Demetrius are starting to notice something is going on at the end of the bar.

“Oh it’s nothing. Your face just looks very similar to someone I used to know back in Tsuzu,” Lily said coolly, trying to use her ‘New Girl in Town’ card to get her out of this mess. She lied about that, of course, she couldn’t even see his face before. And now that she’s seeing it, no one she knew even looked as haggardly as him. Unless you count being angry with an empty beer glass in hand as a point of similarity, then she does regrettably knew one person back there which fits the description down to a tee.

“Funny I don’t recall knowing an airhead ditz like you back in Tsuzu, especially one with a gaudy red dress,” Shane spat the words bitterly. “Wait, you’re actually from Tsuzu? I just said that randomly to get you off my back,” Lily replied with a visible smirk she unconsciously let through, not believing her rotten luck in actually getting something spot on in her made up excuse. “Our fucking conversation here is over. Now piss off,” he deflects, turning away from her. His eyes looking for Emily, desperately needing his beer ASAP to calm his extremely agitated nerves. And just in time, Emily finally appears from the kitchen, with a dish in one hand and a few empty glasses in the other. She stops at the booze tap to fill in one of those glasses with beer and the other glasses with something else, before proceeding her strut towards the end of the bar.

“Fucking finally,” Shane mutters under his breath, eagerly waiting for her slowpoke ass to get that beer in front of him. As if the gods (which he doesn’t believe in at all) are trying to take a shit on him even more than they had already did today, Emily instead turns towards that godawful golden haired bitch and puts everything in front of her. “ _You gotta be fucking kidding me... Calm down Shane, take a deep breath, Emily’s gonna see you after that and refill your glass, in a moment. Don’t fucking lose it anymore and make a huge scene. You owe Gus a simple decency not to fuck up his business_.”

“Hey Emily, can you give my beer to that guy over there?” Shane perks up hearing that, looking at their direction trying to figure out if she’s mocking him. “Huh you mean Shane?” Emily asks bewilderingly, not knowing what Lily has anything to do with the resident antisocial alcoholic. “Yea, I owe him that after accidentally ruining his night,” Lily replies guiltily. Shane was taken aback by that, not expecting the lady he berated harshly just now to be unaffected by his extreme rudeness.Still, there's something off about her and that makes Shane feels like her action is not as sincere as it seemed. “You sure about that? I can just refill his glass instead and you can keep this one,” Emily informs her, still trying to piece together what she just missed. “No that’s alright, I really need to wake up early tomorrow anyways and catch up on farm work. I’m still trying to get a hang of this farm thingy,” she replies, digging into the spicy eel as she speaks. “You really did put extra hot peppers in this! Say thanks to the chef for me Emily, this is hella delish!!” she blurts out mid chewing before focusing on eating the whole thing in delight as if nothing happened and doesn't seem to care that people are staring their direction.

“Well, I guess this is yours now, free of charge,” says Emily, putting down the new glass of beer in front of Shane, “so what the hell just happened while I was gone? I’m so clueless right now.” “Stay clueless and mind your own business Em,” Shane warns her, and then immediately chugging down his salvation, reveling in its warmth spreading inside of him. “Whatever you say cowboy…” she gave up, walking away and continue doing her job. “ _I’ll just get Pam and Clint to tell me all the juicy details later~_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: thanks for reading my first fanfiction I ever tried to write. English is not my first language and I have to admit I struggle with grammar. I hope you have no trouble reading my first work.  
> Oh and I’m sorry for changing a few details like Zuzu > Tsuzu and so on, I did that for my own amusement and ease of writing.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this and will follow my story, thank you :)


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